JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Scenes from a Psychogeography walk through the Financial District after the first major snowfall of the year. The CN Tower in purple/magenta/pink mode, contrasted with fully-lit offices on the south side of King Street. Outside of Metro Hall, we gathered around the Eternal Flame of Hope , first lit by various dignitaries in 1996. The wind tried to snuff out the flame, but a hissing sound indicated this gas-fueled light wasn't going down without a fight. No fingers were singed while testing how close one could get to the fire. Further east, an Enbridge team was working on a steaming manhole, the likes of which I've usually seen only in Detroit. We wound our way down to the Bay Street entrance of BCE...er...Brookfield Place (I'm still not used to the name change). Atop the illuminated walkway was Vibrant Communities in Focus ( warning: link goes to Photosensitive site in general ), an exhibit of works highlighting the effects of Ontario Trillium Foundation grant...

While I never owned a plug-into-the-TV video game system until I was pushing 30, I often played with Atari, Colecovision, Videorama, etc. at many friends' homes growing up. I usually passed level one of play about 20% of the time, but it was fun. Digging through stacks of cartridges to find the next game to get royally clobbered at. Now you can create your own mythical games thanks to the Atari 2600 Label Generator . Digging through the closest cache of pictures, here's a piece of Canadian history turned into thrilling gameplay... The game: English and France are at battle for control of Quebec in 1759. Players choose a blue (France) or red (England) soldier to shoot at the enemy to win the battle of the Plains of Abraham. Bonus points for shooting at the occasional bird that flies by...but beware of the poop they spew! Bonus Feature: There is one Atari commercial that sticks out in my mind, mostly because I was razzed by my peers for admitting I hated it. Several ki...

Every Monday night, I play volleyball in a work recreation league, in an old-school church gym halfway between the office and the bunker. Talent-wise, we're somewhere between Arts House Team Bob and mediocrity, but it's a fun way to burn a few calories off. My team mostly consists of French translators, so 70% of the banter on-court is en francais...mostly "Merde!" Last night, I was in the kitchen behind the gym, changing into my game gear, when an odd sight caught my eye. Plugged into the wall was a Coleco tabletop Pac-Man game , exactly like the one Dad and I wore out. Cue flashbacks. Our model lasted 5-6 years. Dad and I played so often, and went through so many C batteries, it's amazing it lasted that long. Friends came over just to play Pac-Man, starting me down my cynical path (mind you, I was just as bad with anyone who owned an Atari, Colecovision or Commodore 64). Lying on the floor in my room or in the basement, I was transfixed for hours, with all...